Quest for the Origin of Entanglement

In the Quest for the True Origin of Entanglement, we ask whether the concept of entanglement, and in particular the word "entanglement" itself, might have been documented earlier than the time of the publication of the Cambridge Philosophical Society article. Perhaps there are traces of entanglement in Schrödinger's personal diaries, or in his correspondence with Einstein, friends, and colleagues. Of critical interest to us is the period of time between the materialisation of the EPR paper and that of Schrödinger's Cambridge Philosophical Society paper, during the early months of 1935. What discussions rattled back and forth among the prominent physicists at the time who, like Schrödinger, were applying their minds towards the understanding of quantum mechanics? Was there a documented discussion in which either the words "entanglement" or "Verschränkung" made their debuts? Ultimately, the time and place of any appearances of the word "entanglement" (or "Verschränkung") in historical documents prior to the publication of the Cambridge Philosophical Society article would be valuable knowledge for the fulfilment of our quest.

Words are invented by scientists to describe phenomena occuring in nature. These words become fashionable and tend to circulate in the sciencitific literature, developing their counterparts in different languages. They usually translate quite literally with no surprises, some words being merely pronounced in different ways in various interesting accents. But some words do genuinely differ in their implied meanings within the context of their specific language; i.e. in their scientific metaphors.

"Entanglement" and "Verschränkung" are examples of translated words that indeed conjure up different images in their respective languages. The German "Verschränkung" translates literally into English as "folding" or "crossing over", as in the folding or crossing of one's arms or legs. The English "entanglement" translates literally into German as Verfangen, which is often used to describe a tangle of strings or of cables.

Both, it seems, bring out the correct notion of inseparability: the binding or linking of two systems in some physically fundamental way. However, the meanings of these two are undoubtedly quite different. One might argue that "Verschränkung" expresses a strong link between two identities: it brings with it a sense of order rather than disorder. On the other hand, the word "entanglement" conjures up a picture of a ball of strings tied up in knots, or a person getting tangled in something like wires. There is a sense of disorder and maybe frustration: For example, an english speaker might use the word "entangled" to describe someone who is frustrated wth being caught up in some knitty gritty issue.

In recognition of its subjective nature, we shall not impose any preference for the appropriateness of either the English or German words to describe the concept of entanglement, nor argue our opinions either way. The rather more objective task that we would like to undertake is to establish the true origin of these words in the scientific history of quantum mechanics. Popular opinion will have it that it was Erwin Schroedinger who first coined the term "Quantum entanglement". It would seem highly likely that he originally thought of the words in German, but the fact that Schroedinger was appointed a fellow in Oxford, England, during the time of his work on entanglement, may cast some doubt over such a speedy conclusion: Schroedinger was indeed a talented linguist and a fluent English speaker, writing many papers in English during the course of his time in Oxford and Ireland.

The origin of entanglement is open for investigation.

The Words

Artur Ekert would like to see written historical evidence revealing the true origins of the words Verschränkung and entanglement within the context of quantum mechanics. This has led to a bet being declared and accepted:

Artur Ekert will provide two bottles of "decent" wine for providing any evidence that may contribute to the determination of the true origin of the word Verschränkung.

It would be greatly surprising if the English word "entanglement" turned out to be the first to appear in scientific writing, penned by Schroedinger himself, maybe even Einstein, or even more surprisingly, by another scientist in some diary or journal.

On failing to determine any facts regarding this issue, the acceptor of the bet, Matthias Christandl, will be responsible for providing one bottle of "decent" wine per witness of the signing of the bet. The wine will go towards celebrating the anniversary of the great EPR paper, which first demonstrated the true mystery and ghostly physics of quantum entanglement/Verschränkung and swept up widespread interest in the study of the fundamental issues of quantum mechanics.